A grand grid plan by US

America has come up with a plan for an Asian power grid, which India can look forward to, reports S Rajagopalan.

India can look forward to this. The US has come up with an ambitious plan for an Asian power grid that will allow the country to feed on power -- all the way from Kazakhstan.

US assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher, disclosing this at a Congressional hearing, said the idea is to transmit power from energy-rich Central Asia to energy-deficient India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Under the Bush administration's "vision", private investment is proposed to be tapped to establish a 500-kV power line from Almaty to Delhi within the next few years.

The grid will be fed by oil and gas from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and hydropower from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, said the US State Department's point man for South and Central Asia. Kazakhstan is known for oil and gas, while Turkmenistan has some of the world's largest gas reserves.

"The vision is within our grasp," Boucher said, stressing that it is a winning solution for all. While South Asia will have access to the vast and rapidly growing energy resources in Central Asia, countries like Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan can improve their revenue.